


Jaws

by EsriteIatha



Series: Classic Monsters Meet Star Wars [1]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Great White Sharks Are Majestic Creatures, In This One Kinda Deadly Too, Jaws
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 19:49:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11493534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsriteIatha/pseuds/EsriteIatha
Summary: Our favorite trio and the baby of the family are enjoying their well deserved holiday on a Corellian island. However, something is lurking under the waves of the ocean.First part of my Classic monsters meet Star Wars series!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some warning: while I based this fanfiction on the movie Jaws (Which is an amazing movie go watch it, but don't before going to the beach... I made that mistake once...), I won't stick to the story line strictly, because of you know... Force-sensitive, lightsaber waving, blaster shooting reasons. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Rilraniw ran as fast as her long legs allowed. The alcohol and that little spice she smoked filled her body with euphoria and detached her from all her worries. Her boyfriend lay in the sand dead to the world, but she couldn’t stay by his side. The need to move, to dance was so strong that she basically flew with it. Her eyes fell upon the ocean in front of her and with a delighted laugh she ran towards the huge mass of water. She all but ripped her clothes off and with an elegant dive she dove into the gentle waves. She laughed again as she swam lazily. Her body had been way too hot and the cool water felt heavenly.

She felt safe and content, so when something bumped against her leg she didn’t panic, though confusion broke through her happiness. She glanced down at the water, but in the darkness of the night she couldn’t see anything. However, before she could shrug the sensation off, something huge bit down on her leg. She screamed out in pain and fear. Whatever attacked her started dragging her back and forth. She flailed with her arms in her terror.

“Help me! Please! Help me!” she screamed as loudly as she could.

She was slammed against a buoy and she grabbed onto it. Her legs had been released, but she was so frozen in fear, pain and shock that her brain couldn’t synchronize her limbs to climb or try to escape.

“Stars. Help. Someone. Help. Please!” She repeated hysterically.

Suddenly she was ribbed of the buoy, dragged back and forth again. She screamed for help again and again, but no one was out there to come to her aid. With one last pull she was dragged under and silence fell upon the harbor.

***

Luke Skywalker shot upright in his bed. He looked around frantically, but couldn’t find what disturbed him so deeply that he ended up panting and sweating. He had been dreaming this time, he was sure. He rubbed his face with a sigh. The Force was quiet and his danger-sense peaceful. Maybe just a too long war was catching up with him.

He kicked off the light covers and rose to his feet. He grabbed his shirt off the chair that was placed next to his bed and pulled it on, but he didn’t bother with the buttons. He patted out of his room through the terrace door. Outside a light breeze ruffled his blond locks. He breathed in the salty air of the ocean in front of him and it calmed him down immediately. He sat down onto a deck chair and watched as the gentle waves washed the sandy beach only few standard meters away from him.

Corellia truly is beautiful, he thought with a smile. After the liberation of Han’s home planet as a thank you gift from the local council of Tenety-island the Solo-Skywalker-Organa family had gotten a big summer house on the beach. Leia’s hard political work with the government had finally ended, so Han had decided they would have a nice and long vacation here. Luke thought back with a smirk on how Han had literally bullied the twins into cooperating. After seven years of fighting (even longer for Leia) it had been hard to just sit back and relax. Maybe it was guilt that didn’t allow him to sleep, he thought with a sigh.

“Do you have a trouble with the concept of sleeping?”

Luke blinked up at Han who stepped out onto the terrace from Luke’s room.

“I love sleeping. I just wanted to get some fresh air.” Luke smiled sheepishly.

“Yeaaah…” Han drawled. “At three in the morning.”

Luke shrugged. “Sue me! Did I wake you up?”

Han sat down onto another deck chair and sprawled out on it. “Nah. Not ya. Leia kicked me three times and mumbled ‘Luke’. So, I checked on ya.”

“In short I woke you up!” Luke laughed softly.

“I swear on all Corellian gods that if your Jedi senses catch something hincky here, I knock you out for the rest of the vacation!” Han warned him sternly while pointing a finger at him.

“Who? Me?” Luke asked back with feigned shock.

“Exactly.” Han mumbled as he leaned back against the chair.

Few minutes of silence descended upon them in which they both sat back to enjoy the peaceful night. But of course Han wasn’t famous for his ability to be able to stay quiet.

“Sooo” he started. Luke glanced at him sideways with an eyebrow raised. Han suddenly grinned. “Is Mara coming?”

“She has a busy schedule, but she said she will try.” Luke shrugged, then his mind registered his brother-in-law’s way too wide grin.

“Come one, Han!” he groaned with an eye-roll. “We aren’t even dating!”

“Or you just don’t want to admit it!” Han sing-songed.

“You seem to forget that I have a lightsaber.” Luke replied darkly.

“Spoilsport!” Han huffed and crossed his arms.

***

He must have had fallen asleep after their little banter, because he woke to an impatient tug on his sleeve. He groaned when he opened his eyes to the intensive light of the morning sunshine. The impatient tug came again, so he turned to the side to see Ben standing next to his deck chair with a pout on his little puffy face.

“What is it, Buddy?” he asked and he sat up.

“Mom and Lu’ no fun!” Ben stomped with his little leg.

Han pulled the two-years-old up into his arms and looked around for the twins. He spotted them not far from the house, sitting in the sand straight-backed, crossed-legged and unearthy. He strode towards the pair while Ben wiggled in his arms.

“You two are no fun!” Han declared, when he reached them.

The twins turned towards him in a creepy unison. Had they been doing that before or just after they had found out that they were twins?

“According to Ben.” he added quickly.

Luke made a pouty face at the child. “Am I no fun?”

That made Ben giggle uncontrollably. Leia rose from her sitting position and shook the sand out of her knee-long skirt.

“It’s not a nice thing to say about people!” she scolded the child gently.

“Boooled!” Ben protested with another pout.

“Patience is not his strength.” Leia sighed and ruffled her son’s hair.

“I don’t have any idea how that could be!” Luke said and looked pointedly back and forth between the parents. He got nearly identical glares back, which he happily ignored. “So, food?”

Tenety was a small island surrounded by the vast Aleera-ocean. The Gold Beaches were near and this tiny island was a popular resort. Thanks to its separation of the main land, not even the Empire managed to ruin its beauty. There was a small restaurant near their house and the family had breakfast there every morning, just like this time. The owner was a kind ortolan who was an expert cook.

Luke volunteered to order their breakfast. Han and Leia chose a table on the terrace and placed Ben in a baby chair between them. Soon Luke arrived back with four plates of hotcake, their favorite.

“This is heavenly!” Leia purred.

Luke hummed in agreement.

“Speaking of heavenly!” Han interjected. “I have a surprise for y’all!”

“Surprise? What surprise? I don’t like surprises!” Leia snapped her head up.

“Relax, Sweetheart!” Han grinned. “It’s a good surprise.”

“But—“ Leia started again, but this time it was Luke who interrupted her.

“Listen to him, Leia!” Luke said, while he fed Ben airplane style. “He is really happy about this!”

Han beamed. “That’s right, Leia!” then he turned sharply towards his brother-in-law. “You stay outta my head!”

“Stop projecting so loudly!” Luke sing-songed and got another bite of hotcake into Ben’s mouth.

That was of course followed by one of their famous banter that ended, when the owner, Rulu approached them and they engaged into a nice, friendly chat with the old ortolan.

Half hour later they walked back to the beach, slowly approaching the harbor. Han’s excitement grew by every step they took. Luke and Leia’s curiosity mirroring it. They stopped though, when Han spotted a familiar face not far from them.

“Terrenis?" he asked in disbelief.

The man whom he addressed turned sharply towards them. He was a tall Corellian in his early fifties. His salt and pepper colored hair was cut short and he regarded them with sharp, light colored eyes.

“Han? I can’t believe it, is that you?” he asked back with a rich baritone voice.

“Of course, it’s me! Long time not see!” Han grinned widely.

“I heard you’ve come to your sense and did some great things!” Terrenis smiled knowingly. He ignored Han’s sudden embarrassment and turned to the twins. “I’m Terrenis Tirritu. I’m the sheriff here.”

Luke took the offered hand, his face open and calm. “Luke Skywalker. This is my sister, Leia Organa-Solo and nephew, Ben Solo.”

“A senator and a Jedi!” Terrenis said with awe as he shook Leia’s hand too. “How did Han end up with you all?”

“This is a very long story, Sheriff!” Leia replied kindly.

“One I’d like to hear later.” Terrenis grinned, then his face sobered and motioned at the young human male that stood next to him.” I have to take care of Lirri first.

The boy next to him was even younger than the twins, twenty or something. He stared at the small family with shock and awe. Luke frowned at the pair in front of him and ignoring Han’s warning glare he asked. “What happened?”

“A young twi’lek girl disappeared last night.” Terrenis said with a sigh and ran a hand through his short hair. “But I can handle this, do not worry. The Galaxy’s Greatest Heroes should just enjoy their holiday!” he finished with a grin.

“Let’s listen to the old man! I still have---“ Han tried to herd his family towards the harbor, when a loud whistle cut him off. Several standard meters away from them one of Terrenis’ man waved at them urgently.

Han sighed with defeat. “Stay with Ben!” he asked his wife and took off with the other three men. Luke reached the officer first, who waved at something between the sand mounds and staggered away retching. Luke’s eyes widened, when  he spotted, what the officer had found. He held out a hand and stopped Lirri with the Force not even looking away. The young man let out a yelp, but was ignored. The two corellians caught up with the Jedi.

“Gods!” Terrenis whispered.

The sight was truly horrifying. It was the corps of the young twi’lek girl by the look of it. At least what was left. An arm, half chest and the head. The girl’s face was frozen in horror. Luke took a deep breath calming himself. There was one question he had to ask.

“When did she disappear exactly?”

“Lirri is not sure. He passed out and when he woke he couldn’t find his girlfriend, so he called me.” Terrenis replied. Then the sheriff shook his head and straightened his posture.

“I meant what I said.” he turned to Luke. “This is my job. You go back and forget all this, okay?” at the end of his sentence he flashed a look at Han. The ex-smuggler nodded and took Luke’s arm.

“You heard the Sheriff! Off we go!”

Luke nodded reluctantly casting one last look at the girl’s remains.

***

“So, who is this Terrenis Tirritu exactly?” Leia broke the heavy silence that fell upon them, while they walked to the harbor. The dark mood started to take a toll on Ben, because he started fussing in his father’s arms.

Han adjusted his hold. “I leaved here for a while, when I was a kid. Remember what I told you about this island? That nothing had changed here for a very long time. The most important things here are constant. Terrenis Tirritu is one of them. He used to take care of me, when I lived here. He thought he could tame my adventurous spirit.” He smiled fondly.

“Good luck with that!” The twins said in unison.  

Han stopped and glared at them. “You do know that you are really creepy, when you do that?!”

The twins cocked their head to the side and feigned confusion. “Who? Us?” Of course, in unison.

Han rolled his eyes and turned to his son.” Thank gods there is only one of you!”

“You sure?” The twins asked cheekily.

“I had to marry a Skywalker!” Han groaned in exasperation.

The mood lightened and Ben settled too. Han told them fun facts about the island that he had learned from Tirritu when he had been a kid. Before Tenety became a touristic paradise, it had been a fisher island. Its inhabitants dismissed modern technology, preferring the old ways of leaving. In the end that had made the island such an interesting place. There were no speeders or spaceships, but people used actual, classic boats. Luke watched them with awe as they walked through the harbor. As someone who grew up on a desert planet, then lived in a war zone jumping from one rebel base to the other, this was all too new to him. He nearly walked into Han, when the ex-smuggler stopped suddenly in front of him. He barely managed to side-step.

“This is my surprise!” Han declared proudly.

“That’s beautiful!” Leia breathed.

They stood in front of a beautiful boat, white, big enough for the family to travel with it, proud. It reminded Luke of the Falcon.

“How did you get it?” Leia asked.

“I bought it!” Han grinned. “Come! It’s beautiful from the inside too!”

They climbed into the boat one by one, Han helping Leia and his son. As Luke moved to followed them too, he spotted a writing on the side of the boat.

“The Great White?” he asked his brother-in-law. “What does that mean?”

“You’ve never heard of the Corellian Great White Shark?” Han gapped at him. “Majestic creatures!”

The twins glanced at each other with confusion, than back at the ex-smuggler. Seeing that Han threw his hands up with exasperation.

“I can’t believe you don’t know what I’m talking about! Corellian great white sharks used to rule these seas. The largest one reported was six standard meters long! They were the perfect killing machines! According to the stories they were man-eaters.” Han explained eagerly.

“Used to?” Luke asked back.

“Sadly, they were hunted for their meat. They were hunted so much that they were considered endangered during the Clone Wars. However, even after that the rich couldn’t stop. For high prices, the hunt continued. They were reported extinct three years after the fall of the Old Republic.” Han’s mood darkened, while he spoke of the faith of those animals.

“Have you ever seen one?” Luke questioned as he leaned against the railing.

Han looked at the huge mass of water that lay before them with a fond smile. “Yeah, I did once. It was a four meters long male, according to the fisherman who caught it. Truly majestic.”

“Are you sure that they are extinct?” Leia asked pulling her son closer to herself. She regarded the ocean suspiciously.

Han sighed sadly and moved to climb up to the bridge.

“Believe me, they are extinct.”


	2. Chapter 2

They had spent most of their day on the Great White. They even took it for a ride around Tinity-island. Han had taught the basics of steering a boat to Luke, who as it was expected, had a natural talent in that too. Ben had loved the ride too. He had been dead-set on climbing up on the railing of the ship scaring the nine corellian hells out of his mother.

“I used to do that too!” Han grinned down from the bridge. He received lethal glare from his wife, which he happily ignored.

At the end of the day they were walking back to their summer-house slowly, while watching the setting sun, when they encountered Terrenis again. Han spotted him and other two guys speaking out of hearing-range.

“Who are those?” he asked.

“The blond guy on the left is Tinity’s mayor.” Leia said.

“And the other one is…” Luke’s eyes unfocused for a few seconds as he trailed off. ”Forensic medical practitioner?”

“You’re really creepy, when ya do that” Han muttered.

The other two men said their goodbyes to Terrenis and left. Taking that as their clue, the trio (plus the baby) approached the Sheriff. Or rather, Luke started forward, Han failed to catch him in time and Leia tagged along with a grin and Ben in her arms.

“Sheriff? Is everything alright?” Luke asked as soon as he could without shouting. He side-stepped the elbow Han aimed at his side. Terrenis must have been deep in thought, because he jumped a little, when Luke spoke. He shook his head and smiled at the family.

“You can call me Terrenis or Terry. And yeah, everything is alright.” he scratched the back of his head. “Mostly.” he muttered.

“Mostly?” Luke repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Forget it. Everything is fine.” Terrenis waved with his hand. Luke started to open his mouth to ask again, but the Sheriff cut him off with a bright expression. “I’ve told Serena that you are here. She invited ya’ll to dinner. What do you say?”

“Of course, we are coming!” Han grinned, then he remembered that this time he had his family with him and glanced quickly at his wife for permission. He definitely wasn’t doing puppy-dog-eyes. Okay, he was, but Serena was an amazing cook. Unlike them.

Leia smiled gracefully. “That would be lovely. We accept her invitation gladly.”

“Fantastic! Han knows where we live. Come by at seven?” Terrenis smiled.

“Seven than.” Leia nodded.

Terrenis said goodbye and left quickly. Knowing well what was coming, Luke crossed his arms in front of himself and straightened his back. Han glared.

“Why are ya pestering him?” he huffed.

“He is not an easy man to read.” Luke started and he nodded at the receding figure of Terrenis. “But he is worried about something.”

“He truly feels off.” Leia said, but with a shake of her head she destroyed her brother’s triumph. “But Luke, it’s not wise to stick your nose into this. The New Republic is still fragile and tampering with the local’s business can easily overthrow the balance.”

Luke held up a finger. “I’m not tampering and in the matters of the New Republic’s planets I’m politically neutral. Besides something is about to happen or even happening! I have to do something about it! I know it!” he pressed his frustration slipping out. He had felt restless all day and he would have sworn that it was connected to that dead twi’lek girl.

“Let’s just be a bit more discrete about it for now, okay?” Leia’s tone was placating. “Then when you know how to act, then we’ll help.”

“Or we could just have a peaceful vacation?” Han offered.

He was ignored.

***

They each took a quick shower and put on some more appropriate clothes for a dinner. Han ran out to buy a bottle of Tinitian red wine. Leia dressed Ben quickly, then handed him to her twin-brother. Luke sat out onto the terrace again with the baby. He played with Ben, his mind miles away. The restless feeling was getting worse. He needed to meditate on it, maybe after the dinner.

A familiar presence was approaching, Ben stirred in his arms too.

“I barely found a good bottle.” Han said as he leaped up onto the terrace.  He showed the bottle to Luke, who took it with interest. Han and Wedge made sure that he had learned everything he should know about corellian alcohol.

“This is Terry’s favorite.” Han added proudly.

“I’m sure he’ll love it!” Luke smiled and handed back the bottle.

“I’m ready!” Leia announced as she hurried out of the house. “Ben messed up all of my stuff.” she huffed.

Ben giggled proudly, then shared a mischievous grin with his uncle.

“Nah, off we go!” Han ushered the family off the terrace.

Terrenis didn’t live far from them. They only needed to walk for standard fifteen minutes to reach a house that was similar to their summer-house. Terrenis was waiting for them on their terrace.

“Here you are!” He greeted them with a wide smile. “Come on, Serena is waiting!”

Han handed over the wine and the family followed the Sheriff into the house. Immediately they were assaulted by two children. Two boys.

“These are my sons, Ekron and Anrou!” Terrenis smiled proudly.

“I didn’t know you have children!” Han said. It wasn’t that surprising though. Ekron was probably ten years old, while Anrou looked four. When Han had last seen Terrenis, he wasn’t even married to Serena. The pair had taken their sweet time.

Serena appeared too. She was one of those humans who grayed early, though it fitted her. Her appearance reminded Leia of Winter, while her kind nature reminded Luke of Aunt Beru. She greeted them politely and praised them for their hard work for the New Republic. She added that she felt honored by their presence. She quickly changed into a mother-hen though.

“I prepared lots of food. All of you look so skinny!” She fussed.

Their dining-room had lots of windows that had amazing view. The table was long enough for all of them to sit around it. Terrenis had even brought out Anrou’s old high-chair for Ben. Serena was a truly amazing cook and she really prepared lots of food. They could barely eat half of it. Terrenis inquired about Chewbacca and Han had told him that the Wookiee had gone home to his family, while the humans had decided to have a vacation on Corellia.

“I can’t imagine to be away from my family for such a long time.” Terrenis commented.

“Chewie wants it that way.” Han shrugged. “He takes Life Dept very seriously. Doesn’t matter what I say about it.”

“Mom! Mom! Look! Luke can float the apple!” Anrou cried excitedly. The children were very fascinated by Luke’s presence and they demanded a presentation of his abilities. Luke obligated, because he liked entertaining young children. Moreover, for once it was good not to be feared. People usually were repulsed by his abilities and history. However, children were different. They were amazed by the unknown. They calmed him down like the ocean or a good meditation.

An hour later Serena decided that it was the kids’ bedtime. The guests wanted to live, but Terrenis had none of it. They had enough room, so he convinced the family to stay for the night. In the end Serena and Leia put the kids to bed, then joined the men who moved out onto the terrace. Terrenis opened the bottle of wine that Han had brought. It was strong and soon a comfortable buzz settled on them. It also loosened Terrenis’ tongue.

“Something is not quite right with that girl’s death.” he admitted.

Luke perked up immediately, but it was Han who asked what the Sheriff had meant.

“The injuries.” Terrenis sipped his wine slowly. “The official reports say boat accident. Propeller damage. But… There has been a correction. Originally shark-attack has been written onto that paper.”

“Shark-attack?” Leia asked back, eyes widening a little. “I thought they are extinct.”

“They are!” Terrenis stressed the last word. “Still. I have seen shark-attack victims. The injuries. They could add up if I really want it to.”

“But it’s impossible.” Serena shook her head. “There are no Great Whites in the ocean anymore.”

“How can you be so sure?” Luke asked.

“The Empire had invested lots of money in the search. They used sonars, even subs. The sharks had a so-called meeting point on the south hemisphere, it’s called the White Beaches, because of that. However, for the last twenty-three years there had been no sighting of great white sharks. The imperials more or less subverted the whole ocean for them. No shark.” Serena explained.

“That was why the beaches were allowed to open for the public.” Terrenis took over. “It had been considered too dangerous to go into the water, while those sharks had ruled the ocean.”

“What did the mayor want?” Leia interpolated.

“Seri? He was concerned. Understandably. This island basically lives of the visiting tourists. A dead girl is a very bad advertisement. Even more because she wasn’t from here.” Terrenis shrugged.

“And what did he say about the possibility of a shark?”  Luke inquired.

“There is no possibility of a shark. I mean he said that.”

Luke had no reply to that. Nor did Leia or Han. Silence fell upon them. When it seemed to turn a bit uncomfortable, Leia started a small-talk. She was a politician, she was good at keeping up conversations, even when the mood was uneasy.

It was almost midnight, when they finally decided to go to sleep. Luke stayed u p even later meditating. However, all visions he had received showed only the gentle waves of the ocean. Nothing more. He had gone to sleep with the resisting uneasiness.

***

Serena made amazing breakfast for them all. She even added freshly made fruit juice. The conversation was much lighter during breakfast. Ekron and Anrou were still very fascinated by Luke’s very existence, which made eating really difficult for the young Jedi. Serena had to come to his rescue.

“Today will be the season opening on the beach.” Terrenis told Han, when the guests prepared to leave after breakfast. “You should come.”

“I don’t know. We may attract too much attention.” Han shrugged. He glanced at his wife for help.

“This place is known for hosting well known people. You won’t be the first. Actually, people are kinda used to that here.” Terrenis grinned.

“We’ll give it a try.” Leia allowed.

It turned out, Terrenis had been right. Two hours later they went down to the beach joining the crowd there. The town held a tiny festival to celebrate the first official day of the summer. There were booth here and there, people selling sweets and souvenirs. The family walked slowly through the crowd, taking in the cheerful mood of the small festival. They got few glances, but it was nothing compared to what they usually received on Coruscant. Moreover, no one approached them. They found Terrenis and Serena sitting together under a sunshade, the Sheriff keeping a close eye on the crowd. The older couple told them few useful tips of the beach, then the family moved away. 

“He is nervous.” Leia stated, when they walked out of hearing-range.

“You’re starting it too?” Han groaned. “Look. I have a pretty good idea what ya thinking, but first, you are considering the impossible, second, this is not your job. We have talked about that!”

“Fine!” The twins chorused.

They searched for a spot where they could leave their towels and Han put together their sunshade. Leia chose to stay on the shore with Ben, just in case despite Han’s eye-rolling. In the meantime, Luke and Han went for a swim. As he ducked into the water, Luke thought about how grateful he was to Han for teaching this to him. Although it would have been better if a giant wizard like creatures hadn’t tried to eat them during the lesson. Well, it had been just their luck.

Luke lost track of time. The water around him calmed him down so much that he slipped into meditation without really noticing. Suddenly, a wave of unease swept through him. Startled, he kicked himself to the surface. He needed to gasp for air. In his disorientation, he found it hard to make his way back to the shore, but somewhat he managed. He stopped in the knee-high water and looked around still panting a little. A child rushed into the water next to him with a yellow air mattress. Luke’s unease escalated.

“Hey, kid!” he called after the child. Not even a full teenager. “Don’t go too far out, okay?”

The kid blinked at him, then nodded. He joined a group of kids in the water. Way too far in, if you ask Luke.

“Come on, Duce! Bring it back!” A rodian shouted and threw a stick into the water. A big, black furred dog jumped between the waves for it.

Luke took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn’t calm him down. He sent out a force-suggestion to Han and called him back. He saw the corellian’s head pop out of the water, then the man moved towards the shore. Luke breathed a little easier.

“Hey, Luke!” gentle, skinny fingers wrapped around his arm. He looked down into Leia’s worried dark eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Luke turned back to the water, eyes scanning the huge mass of blue. Han was getting closer fast. “It feels like… Something bad is about to happen.” Luke breathed. “Where is Ben?”

“Building sand-castle with Ekron and Anrou. Luke…”

“Duce? Duce? Duce, where are you?”

Luke turned. The rodian stood on the shore and called for his dog again and again. His voice was filled with confusion. There was no sign of the animal. Luke felt his breathing quicken. He hadn’t had a panic attack since he was a teenager.

Han stood up in the water, where it reached his waist. He was walking towards them as fast as the water allowed. His face showed confusion too.

“What’s goin’ on? Kid? What’s wrong?”

Luke’s danger-sense screamed.

“Out of the water! NOW!” Luke shouted as loudly as he could. He sent powerful waves of force-suggestion tangled with his voice. After a few seconds of shock, Han and Leia joined in too. People started moving without really understanding. Fortunately, out of the water.

He was late.

The kid with the yellow air mattress was suddenly dragged down in front of Luke’s eyes. For a few seconds, he saw the desperate waving of the child’s arms, then he disappeared and the water darkened at that spot.

Luke felt the child’s life-presence blink out.

Other children were screaming. “Blood! Blood! Blood!”

Parents rushed inside the water grabbing for them. Terrenis was there too, helping, shouting.

In a few moments, it was over. Everybody was outside, on the shore, safe.

Except one.

A woman staggered out of the crowd. Luke moved too, stepping forward in daze.

“Aled? Aled?” the woman called desperately. Her eyes were searching the water wildly behind her glasses. Something moved in the water. The waves brought something out. It was a torn piece of the yellow air mattress. Tainted with blood.

The woman sank to her knees.

Luke found it really hard to breath.            


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robert Shaw's lines are fantastic, so I tried not to mess with them too much.

In holo-dramas, when tragedy strikes, the affected crowd usually panics or reacts in anger immediately. Plenty of stories are based on that concept. However, people who participated in war, like Leia knew better. In reality, it’s like the stages of grief. Anger is preceded by denial. Leia had watched the scene unfold in front of her several times. Tinity-island was no exception either. Tourists and locals had been wandering on the streets like dead-walkers as they tried to process the events. That meant time for them before the anger and panic. Not much time though. The first ones of the tourist had been already packing an hour later. Dazed, but still packing.

Leia sighed as she finally put the last band into her hair, then flipped the whole creation over her head, creating a neat hairdo. It was one of Breha’s favorite, therefore hers too. She reached for her make-up set. The island, which basically was one big beach was not the place where you wanted to wear a thick wall of foundation on your face, so she kept it simple. Some mascara and a red lipstick. Finished.

She glanced at the chrono. It was only six in the morning. They had still time before the crisis meeting that morning with the local higher-ups, the mayor and Terrenis. The Sheriff had asked them to come. He needed the backup of the New Republic’s heroes. She made a face at her reflection in the mirror. She had a pretty good idea why.

She checked on Han. her husband was sound asleep in their bed, face buried in his pillow. Last night it had been nearly impossible to calm him down. He had felt guilty for not taking Luke’s warning seriously before the tragedy. In the meantime though, he couldn’t mask his excitement, he had grew up adoring those creatures and finally seeing one living shark … It had been his childhood dream. Then of course he remembered what had led to the sighting and his guilty had been doubled. It had been and unforgiving circle that had driven the ex-smuggler nearly crazy. Then Luke had basically knocked him out with an enormous force-suggestion.

When Leia had stared at her twin, he just shrugged. “He drove me crazy!”

Leia closed their bedrooms door quietly. At least Han had got a good-night sleep. Not like her who had been kept awake by her nightmares of the victim being Ben. She shook her head chasing away the demons. She tentatively reached out with the Force, like how Luke had taught her and checked on her baby. Asleep and content. She let out a sigh. One more.

She didn’t bothered with shoes and slipped out of the building bare foot. There he was. Luke sat on the floor of the terrace, legs crossed, back straight, mind far away. His shirt lay disregarded on one of the deck chair. She noticed goosebumps on his skin, so she picked up the shirt and with one swift move, wrapped it around her brother’s form. She laughed quietly as the big bad Jedi nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Hells, Leia! You shield way too well!” he huffed.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sank to her knees behind him. She lay her head onto his shoulder and his left hand gently touched her arm. There. This way she couldn’t see those faint white lines of his scars. Leftovers of his stay on the second Death Star. Luke didn’t care about them, but they made Leia and Han furious. They were a reminder that while the pair on Endor had escaped with one little scratch on her arm, Luke had gone through torture. And she hadn’t even sensed it, because as he had said, she shield oh so well! What kind of a twin-sister is she?

“What are you thinking about?” he asked quietly. His hand rubbed her arm gently.

“Nothing important.” she sighed. “Have you slept?”

“A…bit.” he replied slowly. A clear lie. She decided to let it be once.

“Are you blaming yourself again?” she asked.

He leaned back against her and she offered support eagerly.

“How could I not?” he asked back.  “I did know something was wrong. Maybe if I paid more attention…”

“You can’t be responsible for every death in the Galaxy, Luke! We have talked about it!” she warned. “You warned us, you warned Terrenis. There was nothing else to be done.”

“Tell this to Mrs. Surrita.” he huffed darkly. Mrs. Surrita was the victim’s mother. After the tragedy Luke had fought down his own reaction to it and had turned his full attention to the woman. He had helped her through the shock. He had been so focused on the woman, that he hadn’t even noticed that he had been half-naked until Han had wrapped a shirt around him. Just like Leia this time.

Remembering back to the day before brought something to her mind. “Was that…” she started carefully. “Was that a panic attack?”

“Something like that.” Luke replied after a short pause. “Not a full one. I’ve learned to deal with them.”

“Not the first time than?”

“Nah.” Luke laughed quietly. “I used to have them when I was a small kid. Even going to Anchorhead have been too much. I only understood why when I learned about the Force and the reason behind them was my danger-sense.”

Something didn’t add up to Leia. “We have been in war. Did you…”

“No.” Luke “In war I knew what I was facing. Most of the time. This is different. This is not war. This place should have been…”

“Safe.” Leia finished for him.

Luke hummed in agreement. They stopped talking. They both watched the waves of the ocean washing the shore not far from them. Somehow it didn’t feel so peaceful anymore. Luke stirred first after a while. She had lost her sense of time completely.

“You better wake Han or we’ll be late.” Luke murmured. The sun was definitely climbing stubbornly upwards. She got up slowly stretching her limbs.

“What’s the word?”

“Nerf herder.”

***

The emergency meeting is going well, Leia thought sarcastically, though she made sure that nothing slipped through her politician mask. The small hall, where they decided to hold the meeting was filled with hotel owners. Not surprising. Most of Tinity-island was owned by them, only few summer-houses with its own shore, like their was exception. These people were self-righteous and all knowing. And very-very angry.

Mrs. Surrita had placed a huge bounty on the shark’s head. That was the main reason of the indignation of these people. That and Terrenis’ next words.

“I just want to tell you what we are planning so far.” he started.

“What about the beaches, Chief?” one man asked.

“We’re going to put on the extra summer deputies as soon as possible. And then we’re going to try and use shark spotters on the beach.”

“Are you going to close the beaches?” a female twi’lek asked slowly, her eyes were flashing at the people in front of her. A short silence followed her question. Everyone eyes were fixed on Terrenis.

The sheriff took a deep breath. “Yes, we are.”

The crowed in front of her erupted in an angry chatter. They reminded Leia of kids, when their favorite candy was denied from them.

“Only twenty-four hours!” Seri, the mayor spoke suddenly.

“I didn’t agree to that!” Terrenis hissed at the man.

Seri turned away from the sheriff, his dark eyes didn’t reveal anything. “Only twenty-four hours!”

Only her experience stopped Leia from gaping openly at the man. However, nor Luke nor Han had the same training.

“You cannot open the beaches, till the shark is here!” Luke warned the mayor quietly.

“The great white shark isn’t the animal ya want to mess with!” Han added with an angry hiss.

Leia’s mind raced madly, searching for a solution which would buy them time. She had been planning for panic, not greed. The people around them were still arguing loudly. She even heard someone say twenty-four hours is like three weeks! She felt like hitting her head against the wall.

A sudden maddening sound brought silence to the room. All heads turned towards the source of the noise, which was someone actually scratching an old black-board at the back of the hall. That said someone had taken his sweet time drawing a comical shark onto that board before his atrocity against their ears. Leia took a close look at the man. He was middle aged, hardened by time and life by the look of him. His blue eyes were cold like the temperature on Hoth. He had the same pepper and salt colored hair like Terrenis.

“You know who I am, you know how I earn a living.” he spoke. Leia decided she didn’t like his voice. It was as self-righteous as the other people in the room.

“I’ll catch this bird for ya,” he continued. “Ain’t going to be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down to the pond and chasing surkush or carge. This shark swallows you whole. Shaking, tenderizing. Down ya go. And we gonna do it quick. Got to bring back the tourists. That’ll put your business on a playing basis. But it’s not going to be pleasant. I value my neck more than 3,000 creds, Chief.” he ignored Terrenis’ angry glare. “I’ll find him for 3,000, but I’ll catch him and kill him for 10,000.”

He leaned back in his seat and his gaze traveled around lazily. “You gotta make up your minds. Gonna stay alive and ante up, gonna play it cheap and be on welfare the whole winter. I don’t want no volunteers. I don’t want no mates. There are too many captains on this island. 10,000 creds for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole darn thing.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Knigail.” Seri spoke after a little hesitation. “We’ll take it ... under advisement.”

Knigail’s lips were still pulled to the side mockingly, when he stood. “Mr. Mayor. Chief.” his eyes found the trio standing behind the sheriff. His gaze lingered on them a bit longer than it was comfortable. “Ladies and gentlemen!”

Silence followed his departure.

***

“Who was this man?” Leia asked her husband as they walked on the shore, few steps away from the gentle waves. Terrenis’ man was placing out signs that forbid swimming. The people who were forced to stay on the land wandered around aimlessly.

“You remember the fisherman with a male shark? It was him. Though don’t call him fisherman. He prefers hunter.” Han explained.

“He is not a pleasant man.” Leia frowned.

“Of course, he is not! He is responsible for more shark deaths, than I for troopers'.” Han waved with his arms. “He had spent his whole life out on his boat.”

“He asks for a big amount of credits.” Luke mused. “Well, first shark in twenty sears, I guess. Can’t go cheap.” His blue eyes, that were so much warmer, than Knigail’s widened. “Wait. This animal is considered extinct. Isn’t it illegal to hunt for endangered species?”

A sigh escaped through Leia’s lips. “Normally it would be. However, this creature had already killed and the victim is a child. It is dangerous. Moreover, people would sympathize more with a grieving mother, than an endangered animal.”

“This is the actual story of the great whites.” Han added. "Beautiful, majestic, but dangerous. Lethal. Must be killed." 

“I see.” Luke hummed.

***

The setting sun found Han sitting on one of the deck chairs. He held his datapad, maybe the most modern technology on the island at the moment. He flipped through studies of the corellian great white. He was so lost in his reading, that he didn’t hear Leia’s approach. However, when she placed a hand onto his shoulder, he jumped nearly out of his skin. His sudden yelp in turn scared the nine corellian hells out of Leia.

“You scared me!” Leia smiled.

“What the hells are you two doing out there?” they heard Luke’s shout from inside.

“Everything is fine, kid!” Han called back.

“What are you reading?” Leia asked.

Han shrugged and flipped through another article. “We don’t even know how old sharks are. I mean if they live 2,000 or 3,000 years. They don’t know.”

“You are really interested in them, right?” Leia asked gently. She pried the datapad free from his fingers.

“I’ve always been.” Han sighed fondly. “Back then, before the flying, I spent most of my times researching on animals most people would call beasts. They’ve always fascinated me.”

A sudden shout disturbed the twilight. It sounded like 'Ekron get out of the boat, now!'

“Was that Serena?” Leia asked.

Han snorted. “It’s Ekron’s birthday tomorrow. He got a small boat as a present.”

“I have a pretty good guess what’s going on.” Leia grinned.

***

The two figures paddled slowly towards the pier. It was a devaronian and a human male. One of them whistled softly. The only sound in the night. 

“I’m tired. Let’s stop before someone reports us.” the human whined.

“Don’t worry.” the devaronian said placatingly. “the Chief lives on the other side of the island.”

“Am I coming in straight?” the human groaned.

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep rowing.”

They pulled their boat out on to the shore. The devaronian fixed a chain around a leg of the pier, then the human stabbed an armful of meat onto a huge hook. They connected the hook to the chain, then added a classic tire to the mix. The devaronian grabbed the meat and after swinging it twice, he threw it into the water.

“We better catch something. This is my wife’s holiday roast.” The human commented.

“Don’t worry about it.” the devaronian smirked. “3,000 creds buys and awful lot of roasts.”

They both chuckled, then sat down on the pier, preparing for a long wait.

“The tide is taking it right out.” the devaronian smirked. He started whistling again.

“Can we go home?” the human asked. He was ignored.

***

Han found another article. It was displaying injures of shark attack victims. On a picture a woman was missing a big part of her right side, while on another a man’s damaged leg was shown. Another article was about shark spotters. He found the injuries more interesting. 

***

The devaronian’s whistling stopped as he saw that something tucked at the tire. Then the rubber circle rushed away from them, the chain that had been attached to it rattled loudly.

“Hey! He is taking it! He is taking it!” the human repeated as he walked to the end of the pier. He pointed at the receding object.

Suddenly they ran out of chain. The leg of the pier first bent, then broke. The whole thing collapsed. The human clung to the part which was still attached to the chain, so he was dragged further away from the shore, while the deveronian only slipped into the water. He climbed out easily. The human though, who finally released the pier and slipped of the object, had to swim back.

Behind him the kidnapped part of the pier slowly turned around.

“Cheffie!” the devaronian shouted and waved with his arms. “Take my word for it! Don’t look back! Swim, Cheffie! Swim!”

Behind the human the pier was approaching rapidly.

“Come on! To me, boy! Come on, Cheffie! Swim!”

Cheffie somehow reached the still standing part of the pier and reached up desperately. “I can’t get up!”

“Atta boy! Come on, Cheffie!” The devaronian urged. “Give me your hand, Cheffie!”

“Help me! Help me!” Cheffie cried. The devaronian managed to grab his hand and pulled.

“Get your feet out of the water!”

Cheffie miraculously pulled his feet up. The broken part of the pier swam past them out onto the shore. The panted in unison. 

“Can we go home now?” Cheffie managed weakly.                       


	4. Chapter 4

They woke to a hell of a ruckus. They got dressed in record time and hurried out of their summer house. Outside over-packed boats swam up and down with all kind of men (human and aliens) sitting in them. They were the ones causing the ruckus.

“What’s going on?” Leia asked with wide eyes.

A man threw something into the water. It blew up, the shock-wave caused the water to fly up high.

“Was that a dynamite?” she gaped.

“Surrita’s money. That’s what’s going on.” Han hissed angrily. They quickly woke Ben and hurried to the Tirritu home, where they dropped off the baby to Serena, who volunteered to be a baby-sitter gladly. She told them where they could find her husband and the trio took off running towards the harbor.

That place was a mess. There were so many people crowding there, that they barely managed to find Terrenis between them. They did though. He was walking with his subordinate.

“So, then Nerfherder and Cheffie sat there trying to catch their breath,” Zandtre explained to the Sheriff cheerfully. “And figure out how to tell Cheffie’s wife what happened with her freezer full of meat.”

“That’s not funny! That’s not funny at all!” Terrenis said sternly. His frown though turned into relief as he spotted the trio approaching.

“Thanks the gods you are here. This,” he turned around and motioned meaningfully at the craziness around him, “is getting out of hand.”

“I’ve seen something like that before.” Luke commented with a frown. “The womp rat population on Tatooine couldn’t be kept in check, so the Imperial prefect passed a bounty ordinance of ten credits per rat. Lots of people needed money back then, so, this happened there too. The rats killed so many of them….”

“Rats killed people?” the Sheriff’s second gaped at the Jedi.

“The average womp rat is circa two standard meters long.” Luke added.

“Than why are they called rats?” Terrenis asked incredulously. Then he spotted something and waved at his man.” Zan, get those people out of that boat!”

Zandtre rushed past them. In front of them ten people tried to get into a boat that was the same size as the Great White. Way too many.

“I don’t know what to do.” Terrenis admitted. His light-colored eyes darkened with worry. “Mrs. Surrita’s bounty is going to attract even more people and I don’t have enough men to manage this. The hotel owners are impatient. Moreover, the Oceanographic Institute refuses to send an expert.”

“Why?” Leia asked, while she kept an eye on another group of men, who was trying to pull off another crazy, over-crowded boat stunt. “By the way, I’m not an expert but those men there… they are all going to die.”

“I’ll take care of it!” Luke volunteered and he stalked towards the group with his menacing-Jedi-mode on.

“They won’t send anyone,” Terrenis started. The three of them watched as Luke stopped at the end of the pier and say something. The next moment the people in the boat started to get out one by one. “because they don’t think this is a great white.” the Sheriff finished.

Luke was back in no time and Terrenis couldn’t help but ask. “Did you use a mind-trick on them?”

“No” Luke shook his head. “I introduced myself.”

“Which is a very handy, all right, but can we get back to the matter at hand?” Han asked. “What do you mean by that it’s not a shark?”

“Not me, them.” Terrenis sighed. “They told me that they stand by their statement that says there is no living Corellian great white shark on this planet.”

“They stand by their statement? But… I don’t understand this on so many levels.” Luke blinked. He sounded heartbreakingly helpless and confused.

“This is because you still don’t have a politician point of view, which, don’t get me wrong, is not a bad thing.” Leia offered with a half-smile. “They refuse to acknowledge this incident as a shark attack, because they had spent years on searching for a living one. They declared this species extinct. The resurfacing of one shark, well, it’s not good for their reputation. “

“But this is one living shark! They should be happy…” Luke trailed off, then he sighed with defeat. “I hate politics.”

“So do I, but it won’t solve our problem.” Terrenis growled. “Without an expert, we are practically running around blind.”

“I could be your exert!” Han offered out of the blue. All eyes turned on him and he shifted uncomfortably. “After all, I know a lot about them. I’ve spent years of my childhood researching on them.”

The twins turned their attention to Terrenis. It was his time to shift uncomfortably. Those siblings had hells of an intense eyes. He couldn’t refuse them.

“Well, it won’t be official, but it wouldn’t hurt either.” he said. “So, what do you suggest we do?”

Han had to stamp down on his excitement. This had been his childhood dream after all.

“The best thing to do is to see the remains of the first victim. The girl on the beach.” he said thoughtfully.

“Okay.” Terrenis nodded slowly. “I just have to figure out how to get you a clearance.”

“I’m working for Intel. I have the clearance to see any corpse and participate in any investigation, which concerns the New Republic. The first victim was an off-worlder, but member of the New Republic. All that means, that yes, this will be official.” Han grinned.

Terrenis whistled appreciatively. “You really did get far! Okay. That will speed things up.”

***

Self-proclaimed fishermen filled the water around the island. Most of them had no idea what they were doing, but they did it anyway with confidence. Leia’s forecast of their imminent death had become a very real possibility. Bercam Emlbord, better known as Ber, who was a local fisherman would have agreed with her if he had heard her statement. He shook his head and threw few grumpy comments to his friends, who nodded back in agreement.

***

“Let’s show Captain Solo our accident.” Terrenis told the medical examiner as they entered the morgue. The older man grimaced at the door as he turned away from the little group that stepped into his territory.

Han had another reason to grimace. He hated the smell that lingered in these places, but he swallowed down his discomfort. Leia and Luke stood together at the wall watching his every move. He had to do his best.

Terrenis handed him the file of the first victim. It was written on paper. Actual paper!

“Victim identified as Rilra’niw from the Niw clan. Twi’lek, skin color light green.” he read loudly.

“And there is the way we have it.” Terrenis pointed at a line.

“Possible boat accident.” Han nodded.

He put on gloves while the medical examiner placed a way too small tray onto the table. It was covered with a white cloth, which he pulled aside. He turned on the table’s lamp and offered the remains to the captain. Han had to swallow again at the smell and he had to admit it, to the sight. Of course, he had already seen it, when they had found it,  but that time Luke had been closer and he hadn’t really wanted to see…

He had no choice this time.

Luke stepped forward and looked down at the remains. No muscle moved on his face. Han really envied his ability to mask his emotions at time like this. Luke held a voice recorder in his hand. Han nodded gratefully.

“The height and weight of the victim can only be estimated from the partial remains.” he said loudly enough for the recorder. “The torso has been served in mid-thorax. There are no mayor organs remaining. The right arm has been severed above the elbow with massive tissue loss in the upper musculature. Partially denuded bone remaining. The right lekku has been severed completely.” he stopped talking and glared at the medical examiner, who didn’t quite meet his eyes. “This was no boat accident!”

Terrenis nodded grimly. Han turned back to the remains.

“The left arm, the head, the sternum and portion of the ribcage is intact. This indicates the non-frenzy feeding of a large squalus. The enormous amount of tissue lost prevents any detailed analysis. However, the attacking squalus must be considerably larger than any normal squalus found in these waters. “He waved at Luke who turned off the recorder and pocketed it. They planned to send this recording to the Corellian Senator and ask for a forensic medical practitioner, who was not involved with the hotel owners here.  

“Well, this is no boat accident.” Han repeated. “And it wasn’t any propeller. It wasn’t any coral reef. And it wasn’t Jack the Ripper. It was a shark.”

***

Not even an hour had passed since their autopsy, when Terrenis was called back to the harbor urgently. It seemed like, one of the fishermen had caught something. They rushed to the scene and found something very interesting. A group of men hang a big sea creature onto hooks and strong wires.

“This is no shark.” Han said as he spotted the creature. Luke had no idea what a shark looked like, so he took his friend’s opinion as face-value.

“What is this?” Leia breathed. She sported a horrified expression.

“I think this is a baby colo claw fish. But they are from Naboo. What is this one doing here?” Han asked.

“Was doing.” Luke corrected him with a grimace as they approached the scene. “This is very dead.”

The fishermen were shouting happily, while a journalist declared loudly how he wanted to post the incident to the Holo Net.

“This is the shot I want with everybody and the thing in it.” He said to a man with a camera.

Han pushed through the crowd to get a better look at the creature.

“Guys! Could we please get organized?” the journalist shouted. Luke watched as a slow smile appeared on Terrenis’ face. He though didn’t manage to smile. There was a pressure behind his sternum that didn’t allow him to relax. Leia’s shoulder brushed against his. She was frowning too.

“I want to get a picture for the article!”

Han examined the creature’s length. Two meters.

“Ber Emlbord get this?” Terrenis asked fully grinning already.

“We caught it!” a man corrected him. The Sheriff went around and shook hands. Relief was palpable in the air. Luke turned as he spotted a ship in his peripheral vision. It was Knigail with his ship, the Orca. He watched the events that unfolded on the dock and laughed at them openly. It didn’t set well with Luke’s mood. The journalist herded the people closer to the dead creature. Terrenis was pulled in too. They waved at Luke and Leia, but they both refused with a shake of their head. They purposefully did it in unison just to creep them out. It worked. Han slipped out of the group too and joined them with a troubled expression.

The picture was taken and the group became unorganized again. The Mayor arrived at that moment.

“Seri, you won’t believe it!” Terrenis said cheerfully and rushed towards him.

“What kind of a monster is that?” a fisherman asked.

“Definitely a colo claw fish.” Han commented loudly enough for them to hear. “A baby.”

“A what?” a man gaped.

Seri sighed happily. “We can breathe again!”

Luke ignored him as he concentrated on Han’s troubled expression. “What is it?”

“The bite radius.  It’s not enough.” the former smuggler replied.

The man who had questioned the species, heard him and turned on him. “What is this bite radius crap?”

“This is a big mouth!” another one all but shouted at him.

“You stuff your kriffing head in there, man, and find out if it’s a man-eater!” The first one spat again.

Han held up a placating hand and turned to search for Terrenis. Leia grabbed his arm and pulled him after Luke who was approaching the Mayor and the Sheriff. Luke placed a hand onto Terrenis’ shoulder and gently pulled him away from Seri, who started speaking to another man. Han and Leia caught up with them and the former smuggler started speaking immediately.

“Listen to me. I don’t know how this colo fish had gotten here, but we can’t be sure that this thing those idiots had caught is the right one. I’m not Threepio, but our chances are more or less a hundred to one. I’m not saying that this is not the beast. It probably is, Terry! It’s a man-eater. It shouldn’t be not just in these waters, but on this planet! But the fact is, that the bite radius on that animal is different than the wounds on the victim.”

The smile slipped off Terrenis’ face. They didn’t notice, but Seri inched closer to them to eavesdrop.

“I want to be sure. You want to be sure!” Han continued. “We all want to be sure, okay? What I want to do is very simple. The digestive system of this animal is very slow. Let’s cut it open. Whatever it has eaten in the last twenty-four hours is bound to be still in there. And then we’ll be sure.”

Terrenis took a deep breath and turned. His eyes met with Seri’s and the two men stared at each other. Then Terrenis moved again, back towards Han and sighed.

“It may be the only way to confirm it.”

Seri was already shaking his head. “Well, fellows, let’s be reasonable. This is not the time or the place to perform some kind of a half-assed autopsy on that moster.” he glared at Han. “And I’m not going to stand here and see that thing cut open and see that little Surrita boy spill out all over the dock.”

He turned away from Han and the twins who had stepped to Han’s sides protectively. Seri froze and they all turned too. Mrs. Surrita was approaching them, dressed in all black, even her face was covered by a black veil. She all but leaned onto the man who was holding her arm. The pair stopped in front of them and she stared at Terrenis. She flipped the veil over her face and her eyes pierced into the Sheriff’s soul from behind her glasses.

“Chief Tirritu?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse.

“Yes?”

She slapped him with enough force that Terrenis head turned to the side. The woman started sobbing, but her eyes were fixed on the man.

“I just found out.” She hissed. “that a girl got killed here last week. And you knew it. You knew there was a shark out there. You knew it was dangerous. But you let people go swimming anyway. You knew all those things, but still my boy is dead now. And there is nothing you can do about it.” she kept her pained gaze on the man and collected herself for a moment. “My boy is dead. I wanted you to know that.”

Her partner stepped forward and turned her away from the group. They watched them walk away in silence. 

“I’m sorry, Terrenis.” Seri spoke finally. “She is wrong.”

“No, she is not.” the Sheriff’s voice was emotionless. He walked away from them and Luke didn’t allow Han to follow.  What Terrenis needed, they couldn’t give him. He knew because he was in a very familiar place, like the Sheriff. It was true, that Surrita’s words weren’t aimed at him, but he still felt the weight of them. He had also known that something was wrong, but still he hadn’t done enough to prevent another death.

Leia took an arm from each of them and stirred the pair away from the dock. They still heard as Seri ordered the fishermen to get rid of the corpse the first thing tomorrow morning.

***

Han sat at the dining-room table of their summer-house and stared ahead. A glass of good Corellian wine was placed next to him, because hells he needed encouragement. He knew what he had to do, but still… it wasn’t something he really wanted to do. He reached for his wine and took a sip. Ben sat opposite of him and too took a sip of his glass of milk at the same time as him. Come to think of it, Ben’s whole posture mimicked his. Dark eyes watched him intently.

Time for an experiment, Han thought, his mood suddenly cheerful.

He put his glass down, placed his elbows onto the table, then put his chin onto his entwined fingers. Ben mimicked every movement of his, although clumsily. Han made a silly face at the child, who tried to do it too, but ended up giggling uncontrollably.

“Come ‘re” he called and the child all but flew into his arms. He hugged his toddler close and breathed in his scent. He kissed the top of the dark curls and looked up to meet with Leia’s warm eyes. She had been standing in the door-way for several minutes already, watching the exchange with a smile.

He cleared his throat and stood, while holding the child.

“We should get going. Where is Luke?” he asked and gently handed Ben over to his mother.

“Outside.” Leia replied gently. “Take care, okay?”

“Always, Sweetheart!” he grinned and ignored the eye-roll.

Luke was waiting for him on the terrace. He looked calm and collected. He certainly didn’t drink alcohol. Han was glad, because he felt kind of tipsy. Luke raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

They walked to the Sheriff’s home and Han went inside. When he next reemerged with Terrenis following behind, Luke’s eyes grew impossibly and comically wide. Han couldn’t blame him though, because the Sheriff was drunk and he was still cradling a bottle of wine. A full bottle.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” the Jedi said with alarm.

“Tooold ya so!” Terrenis slurred.

“We need him to authorize what we are about to do. He is coming!” Han explained slowly.

“He is drunk!” Luke hissed.

“So am I, but you weren’t complaining about it before!” Han huffed.

Luke glared. “You are drunk?”

“Tipsy!” Han corrected quickly.

Luke groaned and buried his face into his right palm. Calm and collected had been thrown out of the window.

“Just let’s get it over with.” he huffed.

The colo fish’s corpse had been placed into a storage building in the harbor. Sneaking in was the easiest part of their whole mission. Han pulled out a vibroblade and pushed it into Luke’s hand. The Jedi first stared at the blade, then his brother-in-law.

“So, I am the one doing this.” he stated.

“Well, Terry can’t even look straight and between the two of us, it’s your turn!” Han declared.

“I should stuff you in there.” Luke grumbled under his nose.

He crouched down in front of the animal and pushed the blade into it. He cut a neat line on the stomach, from head to the tail. He grimaced at the smell, though the intestines were still intact.

“And now?” he asked.

“You should start with the alimentary canal and open the digestive tract.” Han offered and positioned his flash-light, so it’s beam was on the cut.

“Which is?” Luke asked.

“That” Han pointed at the right part of the intestines.   

Luke pushed the blade in and grunted as he tried to cut through the tissue. His gloves were covered by for him unrecognizable fluids. The white stuff leaked onto the ground and Han quickly moved out of its way. Terrenis grimaced at the smell and covered his nose. Luke pulled out a half fish and threw it onto the ground. It was followed by a whole fish, then another and at last a spanner.

“Stars…” Luke breathed and for a second buried his nose into the still clean part of his shirt.

“He didn’t eat a ship, did he?” Terrenis grimaced at the spanner.

“These things eat everything that’s get into their way.” Han explained. “This one is still small. Probably someone threw the spanner into the ocean and he ate it. A grown one, though, it could. An average adult colo claw fish is fourty standard meters long!”

"Hells. What was it doing in our ocean?" Terrenis mumbled. 

Luke checked the creature again, then stepped away from the corpse.

“That’s it.”

The three of them looked at each other. Even Terrenis looked sober.

“I’ve got to close the beach. Call the Mayor.” he sighed.

“You got an even bigger problem than that, Terry.” Han said and held up his arms. “You still have a hell of a fish out there, with a mouth about this big.”

Both Luke and Terrenis stared at the space between the two arms. If Han was right, Luke would have fit in that hole way too easily.

Terrenis groaned and rubbed his eyes. “How do we confirm that till morning? We can’t make any difference without real evidence.”

“We still don’t know a lot of things about sea creatures. But if he is a rogue, and there is truth to territoriality at all, than we got a good chance of spotting him.” Han said and started for the door. Luke and Terrenis shared a looked and hurried after him, Terrenis a bit wobbly.

“Where are you going?” the Sheriff asked.

“To find him!” Han grinned. “He is a night feeder.”

“On the water?” Terrenis’ voice got higher by every word.

“We are not gonna find him on land!” Han blinked.

“I’m not drunk enough to get on a boat!” Terrenis hissed. Luke froze in his movements and starred at him.

“You are drunk enough.” Han was getting further away, so he started moving again.

“Nope! I’m terrified of water!” Terrenis protested.

“You live on an island!”

“It’s only an island if you look at it from the water!” Terrenis declared almost proudly.

He didn’t even notice, but they reached the Great White while they were arguing. He spotted the boat and let out a defeated sound. He opened the bottle that was still in his hand and started gulping down the wine. Han was openly laughing by this time.

“I can’t even…” Luke started, but gave up. Terrenis finished half of the bottle, then wobbly climbed onto the boat. The Jedi followed him with a shake of his head.

Han stirred the boat expertly while Luke turned on the reflectors on the nose. Terrenis huddled down into a corner and refused to move. Randomly he sipped from the bottle, but otherwise stayed quiet.

After a half hour of traveling Han spoke quietly. “We should be right in the stretch where he’s been feeding.”

Luke frowned at the water. He had no idea how they would spot something in the darkness of the night. At least he had the Force to help. His thoughts were disturbed by a strange sound that came from a device on the bridge.

“What’s going on?” he asked Han.

“Well, this is a fish-finder.” the former smuggler explained. He shrugged at Luke’s questioning look. “I wanted it on the ship, okay? It’s probably just a school of surkush or something, all clumped together.”

“Are you sure?” Luke asked suddenly with a strained voice. He rubbed the lower part of his sternum, where he felt the familiar pressure again. “Something is… Can I?” he asked and motioned at the wheel. Han switched places with him quickly. Terrenis inched closer too. Luke closed his eyes as he stirred the boat.

“He okay?” the Sheriff asked, but Han placed a finger to his lips asking for quiet. He climbed to the nose of the ship and started scanning the water with the beam of the reflector. He spotted a barrel floating slowly on the water. He moved the beam and with a sinking feeling he spotted a half-sank boat in the water.

“Gods.” Terrenis breathed. Luke opened his eyes and stopped the boat. He bit down on his lower lip as he walked to the side of their ship.

“That’s Ber Emlbord’s boat.” the Sheriff added.

“Who?” Luke asked. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

“It’s all banged up. He is a fisherman.” Han said.

“What happened?” Luke asked and rubbed his sternum again.

“Okay…” Han stepped away from the reflector and started getting out of his boots. “I gotta go down and check the hull.”

“Why don’t we just tow it in?” Terrenis asked with wide eyes.

“We will. I just got to check something out!” Han slipped out of his vest, then his shirt. “There is an organic gill in there somewhere. Hand it to me.”

“You are not getting into the water!” Luke hissed. He grabbed the gill out of Terrenis’ fingers. He placed his hand onto the reflector and moved the beam a bit. The light fell onto the side of Emlbord’s boat, which from a half-circle was missing. The Jedi glared at Han. “Lets. Tow. It. In.”

“Luke.” Han said patiently. “It’s alright. Don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen. Okay?”

“It’s not okay and you are not getting into the water! End of discussion!” Luke growled. It sounded dangerously like Chewie.

“I agree with him.” Terrenis stepped next to Luke.

“Terry you are drunk and terrified of water. Shut up! Luke. You’d know if something would be in the water with me, right? You’ll warn me. So, is there anything?” Han asked.

The Jedi shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “How would I know?”

Han raised an eyebrow, then held out his hand. “Give me the gill.”

“I go in!” Luke suddenly said.

“Luke…”

“Really. That’s the logical choice!”

“Luke. You give me that kriffing gill, keep an eye on Terry and the water and stop arguing now!” Han stomped with his leg. “I’m familiar with the water. I know what I’m doing.” he added a bit gentler.

Luke reluctantly handed the gill to him. He had never dealt well with Han being angry at him. Then he reached to his belt and unclipped his lightsaber. He pushed it into Han’s hand and ignored the shocked expression. “It works in water too.” he mumbled and turned away.

Han took a deep breath. “Everything will be alright!”

He placed the gill onto his face, grabbed an underwater flashlight and slipped into the water. He swam under the Ber’s boat. He moved the flashlight’s beam from side to side on the hull, till he found what he was looking for. A huge hole on the hull. He swam closer to it and shone the light in. He couldn’t see anything, but he spotted something stuck in the wood. He clipped the lightsaber onto his belt to free a hand. He carefully pulled the thing out of the wood, then held it into the light. He knew what this white thing was. He closed his fingers around it and swam closer to the hole. He grabbed the edge of the teared wood and pulled on it. Maybe he could loosen it a bit.

Something swam out of the hole.

He cried out and kicked himself away.

This was… This was…

What was left of…

A head. A damaged… teared… dead…

The flashlight and the found object slipped out of his slack fingers. He all but tore the lightsaber off his belt and activated it. He turned around frantically. He didn’t think, just swam towards the surface. He reached for the side of his ship. A pair of strong arms grabbed him and he was pulled out of the water. The lightsaber was taken out of his hand. When did he deactivate it? He ripped the gill off his face.

He starred up into Luke’s worried blue eyes.

“What happened?” the younger man asked.

“Found Ber.” Han breathed.

      

             

   

              

  

 


	5. Chapter 5

They towed the wreck in. They docked it as best as they could, then armed with a flashlight, Luke climbed inside. The boat was not that big and soon he appeared outside again. He looked pale even in the darkness of the night. 

“We lost Ber.” he grimaced. “I mean, his body. Must have slipped out through the …hole.” 

Terrenis rubbed his face tiredly. He seemed to have aged a lot during the night. 

“Let’s go home.” he said at last.

Han didn’t feel comfortable with leaving the boat out there just like that. It was evidence after all, but there was nothing they could do about it. 

Terrenis turned to them, when they reached the porch of their summerhouse. Han noted that the lights were still on inside. 

“We speak with Seri first thing tomorrow morning.” The Sheriff said. 

“I still think that we should do it now.” Han pressed. 

Terrenis waved at himself. Even in the poor light, they could see that his eyes were blood-shot, his face pale and he smelled like a liquor store. 

“Okay. Tomorrow morning.” Han gave in.

Luke and Han watched as the Sheriff walked away, still not managing a straight line, then when he disappeared out of sight, the pair went inside. Leia was waiting for them in the living-room. Her big brown gaze flew from one man to the other, then a pained sigh escaped her lips. 

“It was not the colo fish.” It was not a question. 

“No.” Han said quietly. He moved to sit down next to his wife, but stopped just in time. His clothes were still wet. Leia’s eyes narrowed at him, but she didn’t say anything. Yet, Han added mentally. 

“We found the boat of one of the fisherman.” Luke spoke up after a long silence. “Han had seen his corpse too.” 

“What was left of it,” the ex-smuggler corrected him. “I’ll have nightmares for sure.”

“Told you not to go into the water!” Luke grumbled and with that left the pair alone. 

Leia waited long enough for her brother to close his door, then turned on her husband. 

“Care to tell me about this little swim of yours?” 

***

Luke threw his clothes onto the floor as he made his way into his bathroom. He avoided the mirror consciously. He was sure he looked like hell. He stepped into the shower stall, then turned on the hot water. He concentrated on the feeling of the water as it turned from cold to hot. 

Gods, he was tired. 

He reached that state of tiredness that his mind couldn’t come up with thoughts at all. It felt empty, but still full. But that was not all. The negative feelings that accumulated during the last three days were threatening to overwhelm him. Yoda’s face flashed in front of his eyes, but he chased it away. No. He doesn’t care about the ancient rules. He had already decided to do things differently, than the old Jedi Master.

He switched off the water and reached for a towel. It flew into his hand. Few minutes later he changed it to his robe. He staggered into his room and fell into the bed. 

He needed sleep. He was exhausted. 

His eyes stared at the ceiling, remaining wide open. 

***

The creature swam towards him rapidly. Its long, streamlined body cut through the water effortlessly. From the front, it seemed to have goofy, wide smile. However, when the creature opened its jaws, he came face to face with several rows of sharp, white teeth. The black eyes on both sides of its huge head looked lifeless, but still stared into his soul. 

There was nothing goofy about that. 

***

Han stared at the ocean in front of him with a grimace. The only mediums that he was comfortable in were air, space and water. He had planned long swims for their vacation, but… 

It was not a good time to swim, right? 

He heard a door open and close. He turned away from the window to check, which resident of the summer-house had woken up. He watched as Luke padded into the living room soundlessly. The kid wore a knee-long night robe and a frown. Narrowed blue eyes glared at his surroundings from behind messy dark blond locks. Luke snatched Han’s datapad up from the table and started tapping away on it. 

“Well…” Han started. He slowly inched towards the kitchen. First though, he had to assess the mood. Caf or hot chocolate? In these situations, it could mean life or death with the kid. “Good morning?” 

Luke growled under his nose, but didn’t look up from the datapad. 

Hot chocolate, Han nodded to himself. It took him no more than five minutes to make the Luke-defusing drink and he inched back into the living room. The kid had lowered the datapad and was staring out of the window with a blank expression. Han approached him slowly, then took Luke’s left hand and arranged his long fingers around the mug. Blue eyes turned to watch what he was doing. Han noted that they looked a shade less dark this time. 

“Spill!” he ordered. 

“Not spilling. Every drop is a treasure!” Luke protested halfheartedly and he sank down onto the couch. He cradled the mug protectively. 

Han groaned. “Your thoughts! What’s going on?”

“I checked out what a shark looks like.” Luke said absently. He gazed out of the window again.

“After three days?” Han asked incredulously. “Interested much?” 

Luke stared at him with the same gaze Leia usually used on Ben, when the toddler misbehaved. Both of the twins mastered the look and it worked on both Solos. Soon, Han found himself feeling really stupid without knowing why. 

“What?” he snapped finally. 

“You know… or probably not, but you’ll know now, so, it is really difficult to distinguish between a simple dream or nightmare and a vision. Therefore, I usually avoid visual information until I dream about it. Then I check it. I can’t dream about something I have never seen, but....”

“But it can appear in a vision.” Han nodded thoughtfully. 

“Exactly.” Luke hummed and sipped his hot chocolat. 

“Man, this Force of yours works in a really kriffed up way. I’ll never get it.” Han huffed. 

“Nah. I bet one day you’ll be snapping at a random kid like ‘It’s not how the Force works!’ or something like that.” Luke grinned. 

“Ha! It’ll never happen!” 

“Wanna bet?” 

***

Leia’s white dress brushed against the sand, but she hardly noticed. She wasn’t angry, she was furious! Brax, because she wouldn’t gift Seri with the usage of his first name, had refused to believe what Han, Luke and Terrenis had tried to tell him. He outright disrespected Bercam Emlbord by saying that he died because of an unfortunate boat accident. Stating that Emlbord had been probably drunk and had run aground because of a navigational mistake. They didn’t have Ber’s body to show as an evidence. Leia suppressed a shudder at the thought. They did have the boat, but after seeing the damage, Brax had just come up with the running aground theory. 

“There was a tooth stuck in the wood!” Han hissed angrily. He held up his hand making a big gap with his fingers. “You want to tell me that a creature with teeth this big doesn’t scare you?” 

“And where is this tooth now?” Seri asked back.

“I dropped it.” Han admitted with a hint of shame. He was not squirmish, but when a severed (or bitten off) head just pops out of a sunken boat, it could make a war veteran like him a bit jumpy too.

“Dropped it.” the Mayor repeated slowly. “Are you sure you doesn’t just chasing your fantasies, Captain Solo?”

“Seri! Enough!” Terrenis thundered. His loud baritone voice made Brax step back a little.

“Are you aware, whom you insulted?” Leia spoke dangerously softly. “I might just file a complaint.” 

“I might just do the same. You keep overstepping your scope and overstaying your welcome! Terrenis, with me!” Brax marched off. The Sheriff followed after him with a stormy expression. 

“Well, this went well.” Luke commented. He had been so quiet during the exchange of words that, when he finally spoke, he made both Han and Leia jump a little. 

“Geez, kid! Give me a heartattack, will ya?” Han huffed. 

“Excuse me!” the trio turned towards the tentative voice. A middle aged man stood there. When he got their attention, he nodded towards Seri. “I just want to apologize on the behalf of Tenety-island. You will be always welcome here and we are really thankful for your work.”

“Thank you!” Leia managed a smile. “Can I ask for your name?”

“Rashiva Haverig.” the trio introduced themselves out of politeness and greeted the man with handshakes. It had turned out that he had known Han from, when he had been a child. The older man used to be a coast guard, but he had retired. Although, sometimes he still rowed around in his boat and kept his eyes on things.

“Old habits die hard.” Haverig laughed.

They parted few minutes later. Leia asked them to go back to the summer house. She had a plan,but needed their advanced communication system for that. Serena had come over with Terrenis and Anrou in the morning and had stayed with Ben while the rest of them had tried to convince Seri. She had brought hard rolls and other ingredients with her. 

“I was right!” she announced, when they got back. “Your fridge is frighteningly empty! Do not fear! I cooked!”

She scooped up her son and grabbed her purse. “Have to go. I bet Seri’ll put Terry into a mood!” she explained and flew away in a fury of flying white hair and summer dress. 

Ben wobbled to his mother and wrapped his tiny arms around her leg. Leia picked him up and kissed his forehead. “Mommy has important things to do, but Daddy will play with you, alright?”

She gently handed the protesting child over to her husband and walked to her room. Han sat down with the child in his lap and reached for his datapad. If Seri refused to shut down the beaches, then he had to come up with something. Ben fussed in his arm and slammed her tiny palm onto the screen. 

“Hey, Buddy! What's The matter?” Han tried to readjust his hold on his son and the datapad, but Ben moved too and both ended up uncomfortable again. Luke watched it go on for few more minutes, then sighed. 

“Hey.” he called gently. “I’ll watch him.” 

“Thanks! I just…” Han waved at the screen of his datapad. “Tomorrow is the first day of the harvest festival… So many people.” he sighed. 

Luke nodded. He understood what he meant. Although, there was no real harvesting going on the island, but lot’s of people all across Corellia spent this week long holiday on a vacation. Tenety-island was expecting lots of visitors for the next week. 

Of course, he understood all that and he shared the responsibility that the other two felt for the civilians. However, the sense of duty sometimes overshadowed the parental responsibilities of Han and Leia. He knew that Leia had grown up in a family with very busy parents and Han had never known his own father or mother, but still… Leia had caring flesh and blood beings around her, while Ben mostly had Threepio. It was because his parents didn’t trust many people and even those they did trust were leading a very busy life. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had worked hard on their farm, but they made sure to be there for him all the time. He couldn’t imagine where he would have ended up otherwise. 

Luke took Ben out to the porch and sat down onto the hard boards. Ben, fearing that he would be handed over again, buried his face into his shoulder and clung to his shirt. Luke would have a long talk about all this with Han and Leia. Their life wouldn’t get easier, so they needed to find a solution. 

“Well, there is nothing I can do right now for this community. So, you are stuck with me!” he grinned and projected happiness. 

Ben raised his head a bit, then giggled. Luke’s hand shot out and his fingers danced over the child’s ribcage. The giggle turned into a full blown laughter. 

***

Leia set up her communication system. She searched through her contact list till she found the right one. She sat up a heavily encrypted call, but made sure that her own code could be viewed and waited for the other one to answer. Soon enough a familiar face appeared with the help of the projector. 

“Leia! What a wonderful surprise!” the greeting came. 

“Tabiras! I hope I’m not bothering you.” Leia smiled. Tabiras Aliche was a forty years old woman, who worked directly for the corellian Secretary of the Navy. She had the right amount of influence and she was a good friend. 

“Bother? You? Never!” Tabiras laughed. “But I also don’t think that you called for a friendly chat. Your face looks very tight. What happened?” 

“Shark attacks. Tenety-island.” Leia started her explanation. She told Tabiras everything that had happened during the last three days. 

“I’m afraid that the Mayor would make a lethal mistake, because of the hotel owners.” Leia finished with her worry. 

Tabiras hummed and turned away for a bit and started typing something. “I share your worries.”she spoke. “I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise the prevention of tomorrow’s festival. Tenety has a special autonomy. Influencing their decision won’t be easy.”

“Just do whatever you can.” Leia asked. 

“I will,” Tabiras promised, then with a gentle see you soon, she ended the call. 

Leia sat there for a couple of minutes, then stirred, when a wave of annoyance washed over her. Her brother was not happy with her. She better find out why. She padded out of her room to find Han engrossed in an article. She decided to leave him alone for now and followed those invisible threads that led her to her brother and son. They were sitting outside on the porch. Luke was telling an ancient Tatoonian tale to Ben and the child was listening intently. Luke stopped, when she stepped outside and looked up at her expectantly. 

“Are you mad at me?” she asked. They had an agreement. No secret keeping between them. Ever.

“Not mad. Annoyed.” Luke said. He looked back at Ben pointedly. 

Leia sighed. It was recurring argument between the two of them. Luke was concerned that she and Han were spending very little time with their child, which, she had to admit, was true. But what could she do? She was a senator and her husband had a very important job in Intel. Their free time was nearly non-existent. 

“I’ll come up with something.” she promised. Not the first time.

Luke stood up slowly, so he wouldn’t startle Ben. He aimed his intense gaze at her. 

“You do know it won’t get easier, right?” 

“I know.” she allowed. 

“Serena had made lot’s of food. I warm something up.” he said and left mother and son alone. She still felt the residue of his annoyance through their bond. She kneeled down in front of Ben, who was staring after her twin brother’s retreating form.

  
“I’m sorry, little one.” she whispered. 

***

Luke did what he promised to do. He warmed up the cheesy sauce Serena had prepared for them and boiled water for the pasta. All of these were still on his list of culinary competence. Everything else was off limit, because that would have led to a disaster. Been there, done that, never again!

He arranged the plates on the dining-room table, then called out for the family. Leia walked in with Ben in her arm. The child looked way happier, than before. Han followed them in, still holding the datapad in front of his face. How he managed not to fall over was everyone’s guess. Luke glared at him, but kept his negative thoughts to himself. 

Not like his sister. “Han! Put it down!” 

Han jumped a little, but put the device down quickly. He had already learnt not to piss of his wife. 

“I have a plan!” he announced. 

“Hmmm?” Luke hummed around his fork. Leia aimed a raised-eyebrowed stare at her brother, but he just shrugged. He didn’t have problem talking about work while at the table as long as the parents spent time with their child. He was also a workaholic after all.

“We gonna built a shark tower!” Han said happily.

“A what?” Luke asked back with a frown. 

“A tower which would help us spot a shark! On the beach!” However, his enthusiasm wasn’t infectious. 

“You need Terrenis’ consentement for that.” Luke stated, then shoveled another forkful of pasta into his mouth. 

“That’s not the main problem. Brax is. His consentement is needed too.” Leia corrected him, with an unhappy frown.  

Ben decided that it was the perfect moment for him to flip his bowl over and it needed all three of the adults to diffuse the situation. 

“I’m sure we can bully him into an agreement.” Han said as he threw the washcloth he grabbed into the sink. He caught Leia’s disapproving glare. “What? Politics is just a fancy name of fancy bullying.” he huffed. 

“It’s not!” Leia protested angrily. 

“Luke, tell her it is!” Han ordered, Leia just glared. Luke looked from one of them to the other with a funny expression on his face. 

“Why don’t you just stop bullying each other and think about a solution like how two fully grown adults would do?” he asked, then grumbled. “I feel like I moved into a kindergarten.”

Han and Leia managed to agree on sharing the idea with Terrenis, then allow the Sheriff to rearrange those feathers they had managed to ruffle during their short stay on the island.    

They barely finished their lunch, when someone knocked on the door. Luke answered it and soon walked back with Terrenis trailing after him. 

“Caf?” the Jedi asked. 

Terry growled his yes and threw himself down onto the couch. He covered his face with his hands and rubbed them vigorously. 

“You are still hangover!” Han stated the obvious. 

“Shut up, brat!” Terry growled halfheartedly. 

Luke defused the situation by pushing a cup of hot caf into the Sheriff’s hand. 

“What now?” he asked.

Terry sipped the bitter liquid and stared ahead blankly. “Seri opens the beach tomorrow. My orders are to make it possible. I made some calls. I’ll have volunteers guarding the beach from boats all around. The plan is to create such a crowd, that the shark wouldn’t attack. But I’m open for ideas.” he glanced up. Hopeful eyes peeked out from under the guarded expression. 

“Shark tower.” Han said. He showed the picture on his datapad to the older man. 

Terrenis hummed approvingly. “That we can do. Helpful. I’ll call Rashiva. You know him, right?” three nods encouraged him to continue. “He’ll help with the technicalities. Good at it.” 

“You should go home and rest.” Leia said with a frown. “Zandtre can take care of the rest.” 

“Zan? He trips over his own shoelaces if I don’t watch out for him.” Terrenis huffed, but got to his feet. “I’ll send Rashiva over, then check the towers, when they are ready.” he announced. "Call me if you come up with something else. Need every help we can get!"

No one said a thing as he walked away with the cup still in his hand. 

***

Rashiva arrived with few volunteers. He looked at the plans and blueprints that Han and Luke had come up with, then sent few of his men out for equipment. They pulled out a map of the beach and argued over the right spot for the tower. In the end they decided to build two. The public beach was huge. It nearly took up the half of the island. With two towers they could cover most of it. 

They got to work. It reminded Luke of his time on Tatooine. The digging, the welding, the hammering, all of these brought back not full memories, but feelings, sensations. He straightened himself and took a step back, allowing Han and Ned, a local, to lift a pole into place. Luke smiled. Building something always made him happy. However after the second Death Star, after getting over the fact that statistically he was dead, but in reality not yet, building something meant so much more. He just wished the circumstances were different. 

“The other group has finished their tower too.” Rashiva announced after he had arrived in a trot. “We already have volunteers for tower duty!” he grinned. 

“We need sharp eyes!” Han warned him.”Like marksman sharp eyes!”

“Don’t worry! Terrenis knows what he is doing and his men.” Rashiva lauhed. “He’ll be there by the way soon. You should go home. Rest. See? The sun is setting. Tomorrow will be a big day! For all of us!” 

“Go ahead.” Luke nodded at Han and their group. “I want to check something out. Might as well meet up with Terrenis.” 

Their men went easily, while Han was reluctant. His mind was focused on the shark and nothing else. In the end, Luke threatened him with a call to Leia. Soon he and Rashiva were watching his retreating back. 

“Good one, Skywalker!” Rashiva grinned. “I better go before you find another dragon to send after me!” 

Luke laughed goodheartedly, then said his goodbyes to the man. When it finally quieted down around him, he climbed up into the tower. He stared out at the ocean in front of him. The gentle waves danced in the reddish colored lights of twilight. It was nearly impossible to imagine the danger that was lurking between them. Sighing  he waited for something. A whisper, a song, even a shout from the Force would have been welcome. A warning of any kind. 

What he got was completely different. 

His head shot up and he turned. The Golden Beaches so far away, but he was looking at them with a eyes that weren’t his blue colored ones. There. Among the millions of souls he spotted one. 

Finally! He smiled. Tension leaving his body in an instant. 

She was finally there. 

***

She huffed and kicked off the high-heels she had just put on. It was clicking strangely with every step she took in it. She examined the sole and blinked. The heel remained between her fingers, while the rest of the shoe ended up on the floor of her cabin. She growled and threw the heel away angrily. He needed another one.

It was his fault too!

This whole situation was his fault. She shouldn’t be here. She should be arranging her next meeting with someone. Trading information or … something…

But definitely not dressing up like some over excited teenage girl on her prom night. Not begging for vacation time from Karrde! Not throwing around designer shoes just to find the right one! Not trying to find the right colored lipstick or creating the perfect hairstyle! 

Kriffing him! 

She finally found a pair of shoes that would fit the rest of her clothing and was intact. She stood and grabbed the bag that held her belongings. She pressed several buttons on the panel next to the door. The ramp lowered and she groaned.

So many people! The Golden Beaches were crowded. She locked up her ship and prepared for the long journey ahead of her among all these living beings. 

Kriffing Blue-eyed Monster!

A familiar sensation brushed her mind like a gentle breeze. She turned into it. Out there. He was there.

She frowned. Something... Something stood between them. 

Mara Jade snarled at the ocean.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being late. I had an extreme writer's block....

The tiny body was kept above the waves by the impossibly red life-jacket. Short arms splashed the water uselessly. Huge, confused dark eyes darted from side to side from behind wet, black locks. The water around the toddler looked calm, but the air was filled with terror. 

Suddenly Ben was pulled under the water.

 

***

He woke with a scream on his lips, followed by a loud crash. He blinked the terror out of his eyes. The sight in front of him turned his panic into confusion.  His nightstand, his table and his duffel bag lay there in pieces. With trembling hands he rubbed his eyes, but when he looked again, he still saw the broken things scattered by the wall in the darkness of the night.

 

The door of his room flew open as Han bursted in. The former smuggler nearly tripped over himself in his haste to get in the room. And that would have been a really bad thing considering he was gripping a blaster in his right hand with nearly white fingers. Han looked around wildly, then his battle ready anger turned into confusion as his gaze ran over the wreck of furniture and Luke, who was sitting in his bed staring back with wide eyes.

 

“I had a nightmare.” Luke broke the silence, when the awkward moment seemed to stretch beyond the infinite.

 

“A nightmare?” Han’ voice sounded impossibly high. The former smuggler waved at the mess that once used to be Luke’s room. “Nightmare?”

 

“Uh-uh” Luke huffed and rubbed his face again. Put it in a box, dig a deep hole, bury it deep, walk away. He repeated his mantra, with which he had come up as a way of dealing with Bespin. According to Chewbacca denial is one of the most primitive coping mechanism, but Luke couldn’t care less, because  it’s effective as hells!

 

“Are you sure it was a just a nightmare?” Han asked once more still eyeing the disaster a' la Luke.

 

Ben’s loud cries got through the mess of feelings in Luke’s head. He pressed his lips close tightly and kicked off his blankets. He got to his feet and strode towards the door that led to the porch.

 

“Luke?” Han asked and Ben continued to cry somewhere deeper in the house. Luke stopped and glanced back.

 

“Just a stupid average nightmare. Wasn’t even about the shark.”

 

Who would have thought that he would get so good at lying? He stepped out of his room and allowed the door to shut behind him.

 

***

Leia swallowed nervously as she took in the huge crowd that gather around them. Young and old, tiny and huge, human and other species filled the beaches of Tenety-island. The festival was well prepared despite the circumstances. Booth were scattered around, offering food, toys, games, souvenirs.

 

She tightened her hold on her toddler son, when someone pumped into her.

 

“Hey! Watch it!” she heard Serena’s growl. She shot the older woman a thankful smile and turned back to the people swarming past her. Ben clinged to her, pushing his tiny face against her neck. He had been like that since dawn, when Luke’s nightmare had woken them all. She pressed her lips together tightly. She had allowed Han to try and deal with her twin brother, so she could take care of her equally distressed son. However, while Ben had quieted down rather quickly and turned into a tiny monkey, her brother had grown cold like the ice of Hoth. It disturbed Leia more than the huge mass of living beings that filled the island. Luke’s refusal to say anything about his dream made things even worse. She started to question her decision to let Han deal with her brother’s nightterror.

 

Another rude shoulder that had collided with her back brought her back to the situation. She tightened her hold on her child and mentally grabbed hold of her brother’s force signature. She felt her twin’s mind brush against her with a question. Trying for normal, she sent back annoyance, not aimed at him, but at the crowd around her. She knew he understood, when the mass of people opened up in front of her few minutes later and her eyes found her brother. The funny thing was that no one other than her noticed it. Another magic trick of Luke’s.

 

“Hey!” she breathed as soon as she reached his side.

 

“Hey!” a half smile warmed the Jedi’s face and Leia sighed with relief. It was a huge step towards the right direction after the morning’s cold shoulder.

 

Rashiva stood next to the Jedi with binoculars in hand. He lifted them to his eyes. “All teams have taken their positions.” he reported.”

 

“Han?” Leia asked and adjusted her hold on her son. Ben finally lifted his face away from her neck and looked around with a curious expression. When his eyes fell onto his uncle, he reached out a chubby hand and made a grabbing motion. Luke smiled a gentle half-smile and poked the toddler’s nose with his finger. Ben giggled loudly.

 

“He is on one of the boats. Terrenis patrols the beach.” Luke answered.

 

Leia turned towards the water. Even from there, she could see the line of boats that were guarding the beach. That was the best they could come up with, because Brax had refused to shut it down.

 

Ekron, who had been trailing after the women till that moment spoke up. “I promised Tito that we’ll take the boat out today!” he gazed out at the mass of water with hope in his eyes.

 

“Boat? Boat! Me too! Me too!” Anrou demanded happily from his mother's arms.

 

“No, Anrou! Me and Tito. No babies!” Ekron huffed.  

 

A frown twisted Ben’s tiny face. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, without any noise coming out of it, then, “Boa’? Boa’?”

 

Leia tensed. She couldn’t help but remember what Han had said to Brax yesterday about the great white.

 

“ _This is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It’s really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is eat and swim and make little sharks. And that’s all.”_ Han had said.

 

She swallowed hard and prepared a speech to discourage the kids of their idea. However, Serena had beat her to it.

 

“Dear. I don’t think this is a good idea now.” she spoke gently. Ekron’s face fell pitifully.

 

“They could put the boat into the pond. It should be safe.” Rashiva offered.

 

“But it’s for old ladies!” Ekron groaned.

 

“Just humour the old man, okay?” Rashiva winked at him.

  
“Fine!” Ekron huffed and hurried off to find his friends. Anrou  kicked against her mother’s stomach still he was allowed down onto the ground. Ben happily followed his example, but Leia was not ready to let his tiny hand go.

 

“I’ll watch them.” Rashiva smiled.

 

In the end Leia gave up and watched as Rashiva herded the two toddlers towards the pond, keeping their path away from the crowd. As she turned, her eyes fell onto her brother and noting his rigid posture, she nearly cried out for her son to get back to her side immediately.

 

“Is something wrong?” she asked softly.

 

Blue eyes flickered towards her, then he turned away. “Other than the fact that we play roulette with hundreds of tourists’ life for profit? Nope. Nothing at all. Everything is fine!”

 

Serena’s eyes flew from back and forth between them. “I’ll go around. Check on… people?” and she rushed away, white hair flying freely.

 

Luke crossed his arms in front of himself and stared out at the sea. Leia stepped next to him, mimicking his posture.

 

“Talk to me!” she tried to order.

 

“Later.” Luke offered. She couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her lips. How easy it had been, when he had been kinda intimidated by her personality back then.

 

Then she noticed for the first time that there was no one in the water. Not a single soul.

 

“People are afraid.” Luke spoke.

 

“It’s a good thing.” Leia nodded. “Keeps them alive.”

 

She turned her attention to the land. Her eyes scanned the faces of strangers till he found one familiar. Brax was walking up and down between the tourists with an angry frown on his face. First he ran a hand through his blond locks, then pulled something out of his pocket. A cigarra, Leia noted, when he put it between his lips. Suddenly his aimless wandering seemed to develop a purpose. He strode towards a middle aged man and his wife, who was sitting on a blanket with their two kids. Brax crouched down next to them and told them something, waving with his hands corellian style.

 

“Brax is up to something.” Leia reported.

 

They both watched as the old couple looked at each other, then slowly rose to their feet. Each grabbed one hand of their two daughters and pulled them gently towards the water.

 

“Gods darn it! That kriffing space trash!” Leia hissed, her temper ready to take over.

 

All the other tourists needed was one brave example and soon the water filled with splashing, laughing beings.

 

“Now, it’s up to us to keep them alive.” Luke sighed watching the scene unfold in front of them.

 

More and more people inched into the water and the ones inside swam further in. The tourists got braver by every second that passed.

 

The commlink in Luke’s hand cracked to life. “It’s Red to Blue. Can you see something? I thought I saw a shadow. Over.” They heard Zandtre’s voice coming through.

 

“It’s Blue. I see nothing. Over.”

 

“False alarm. Must be this glare.” Zandtre’s reply was full with frustration.

 

Still on land, Brax was speaking with a twi’lek woman and a human male, who was holding a huge camera on his shoulder. An interview. Leia would have loved to punch that arrogant grin off the Mayor’s face.

 

Time went by, Leia didn’t keep track of it. She changed her attention periodically between the bathing tourists and the ones still on land. She almost expected the scream that suddenly came from the water. It spread like wildfire. The ones in the water started for the land in panic.

 

“Gods! Fin! Shark! 350!” They heard one of the volunteers sharp voice come from the commlink.

 

“Luke! Get them out of the water!” Han ordered through the device.

 

The next moment Luke shot away from her and raced along the edge of the water ordering people out of the water. The way how people moved even before he finished an order suggested that he was using a huge amount of force-suggestion to accomplish the task. She too moved , running to the opposite direction, shouting as loudly as she can.

 

She heard the sharp sound of whistles being blown.

 

 _“Everybody out of the water! Out of the water!”_ it came through a loudspeaker. The chaos around her took Leia’s breath away. People were falling over each other in their hysteric haste to get out of the water. They pushed the weaker down, climbing on children and older people. Without thinking about her dress, she rushed forward into the water and grabbed a sobbing little girl, who had submerged, when a middle aged man pushed her down. She pulled the girl into her arms and looked around frantically. Next to her a human woman, a mother by the look of it, was hugging a toddler to her chest, but was frozen to the spot in her terror, screaming loudly. Leia reached out and grabbed her arm. Terrified dark eyes snapped towards her.

 

“Out! Now!” Leia put as much authority as she could into her voice. It worked like magic. The woman moved, luckily towards the land. Leia followed her with the sobbing girl in her arms. She barely reached land, when a woman rushed up to her.

 

“Mailse! Mailse!” she called out repeatedly. She all but ripped the child out of Leia’s arms, but the look she shot the senator prevented anger to form. It was the look of pure gratitude.

 

Leia slowly stood in the knee-high water. A hand was there assisting her. She looked up to find her brother’s blue eyes staring at her. Luke’s black clothing was also wet. He helped her fully out of the water, then lifted the ever present commlink to his lips. How did he keep it dry? Leia mused.

 

“Han? What’s the situation? What’s going on?”

“You won’t kriffing believe it, kid!” Han’s furious voice came through the device. “It’s a hoax! Two kids with a cardboard fin!”

 

“What?” Luke hissed.

 

“Exactly. Taking them out now. Over.” Han actually spat the last word.

 

***

 

Serena made her way towards the pond, where she knew her children were playing under Rashiva’s watchful eyes. She took several calming breaths. Although, it had been stated through the loudspeaker that it had been a false alarm, an awful hoax, but the panic of her people had stroke a nerve deep in her. One of the older locals, Ral, had been a victim of the stampede. Luckily, Luke had noticed him under water and prevented the tragedy just in time. Still, Ral had ended up a broken right arm and a possible concussion.

 

“Horrible.” she sighed. She wrapped a lock of her snow white hair around her index finger and tugged at it lightly. A nervous habit of her. Her eyes wandered through the scenery in front of her. Such a beautiful place… how could so many bad things happen here?

 

The tiny black dots captured her eyes without her conscious catching on what was going on. Orienting response kicking in, when the disturbance of her surroundings caught her senses. She staggered, when she understood, what she was seeing.

 

“Shark.” first, it came out as a whisper, nearly a question. Then, “Shark! Shark!” she shouted. “It’s going into the pond!”

 

She started running towards the pond, towards her children. She didn’t stop screaming for help for a second. She spotted Ekron and three of his friends sitting in her boy’s new boat, while Rashiva was rowing towards them in his tiny old one. Her long time friend told something to the kids. The dark dots, actually the fins of the shark, disappeared in the water, but its trajectory was clear. Heading towards the humans. Serena screamed as loudly as she could and waved with her arms, but the ones in the pond were too far to hear.

 

It took only a few seconds, and the two boats flipped over. Rashiva and the kids surfaced the same time. The older man tried to climb up onto his boat, but then  he disappeared under again. From where she stood, frozen with horror, she couldn’t see him resurface, but she would never forget that bloodcurdling scream that filled the pond.

 

Serena didn’t even register that black blur that flew past her, not the white one following close behind. All she could see was that hellish fin that swam past her son. The screaming and shouting crowd followed the fin on land. The other kids finally found enough courage in themselves to get off the boat they managed to scramble onto and drag the unresisting Ekron towards the shore. The black blur entered the water not slowing down till it reached the tiny group.

 

When Luke Skywalker pulled her son into his arms, Serena managed to move again.

 

Luke was already laying Ekron down onto the sand, when she reached them.

 

“Is he dead?” she sobbed as she fell to the ground next to her unmoving child.

 

“No, he is not.” Luke spoke gently, but firmly. He stood and grabbed the nearest plaid and wrapped it around the child. Serena pulled Ekron into her arms and started rocking back and fort.

 

“He is in shock.” Luke told her.

 

Terrenis broke through the surrounding crowd and wrapped himself around his family protectively.  

 

***

 

Mara resisted the groan that wanted to escape through her lips. Okay, scratch that. It wanted to explode out of her like a kriffing nuclear bomb. She growled at the man that bumped into her. He turned wide eyes towards her at the sound, but scurried away without a word, when he saw her face. It brought a feral smile onto her lips. Though, it was whipped off again in a second, when her reality caught up with her.

 

The ships that transported people in and out of Tenety-island were ordered to stop, because of an unknown emergency. Some kind of ancient protocol had been launched, which meant in short that no one could take her to her friend. The fact that approaching the island in a spaceship was against the law just made matters worse. Although, it was still a possibility for her, because you know, no one stops Mara Jade, but she wanted to postpone jail time till she found out if it was worth it.

 

She turned around slowly searching for inspiration. She brightened considerably, when she found the solution. She strode forwards purposefully till she reached the man, who was standing in front of a shop smoking a ciagarra. He looked up, when he noticed her approach. His eyes darted up and down, taking her in fully, then a creepy smile appeared on his ugly face.

 

“What can I do for ya, pretty lady!”

 

Rather than saying you could die, she grinned back. “I want to buy a boat!”

 

***

Han stepped into the waiting room of the medcenter. His eyes found the people he was searching for immediately. Luke sat on one of the hard, unforgiving chairs. He had his elbows on his knees, his head buried into his palms. His long fingers covered his face from the world outside.

 

Next to him Leia stood, while managing the impressive task of balancing both Ben and Anrou on her narrow hips. Both children clung to her desperately seeking comfort. Han walked up to them and when Leia turned her eyes towards him, he stretched his arms out offering help. With an apologetic smile Leia handed Anrou to him. Terrenis’ youngest son regarded him with wide, light colored eyes for a second, then found him worthy enough to make him his teddy bear.

 

They waited who  knows how long for news on the rest of the Tirritu family. At one point Leia decided to sit down next to her twin, then Luke shifted. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest. It looked actually like a self-comforting hug. That compared with his way too tired face took Han back to those awful days after the second Death Star. He really hoped that Luke’s PTSD wasn’t up for a second round. The first one had been horrible on its own.  

 

Finally, the double doors opened and a gurney had been pushed out. The three of them stood and watched as Ekron was taken away towards the children's wing. Serena and Terrenis were trailing after it, but stopped next to the trio. Serena gently pulled Anrou out of Han’s arms, then with a soft goodbye, she left them.

 

“Forgive her. She is exhausted. This took a toll on her.” Terrenis explained. He looked equally tired.

 

“We understand.” Leia smiled kindly. “How is Ekron?”

 

“Mild shock, but he will be alright. We can take him home tomorrow morning.” Terrenis sighed. The might have beens were still hanging in the air.

 

Luke suddenly stood and managed to capture everyone's attention. He stared at the entrance and the members of the group followed his gaze. Seri just entered the waiting area. The Mayor wore a funny expression in his face. It was a strange mixture of horror, fear and nervousness. He set his eyes on them, then he moved to the furthest corner from the other people who were in the room with them. Terrenis and the family went after him.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry!” Brax said, but he didn’t look at them. He kept his gaze firmly on the floor.

 

“Here is the plan!” Terrenis spoke. The authority in his voice brought Seri’s eyes to his face. “You will sign a voucher so I can hire Knigail to kill this shark.”

 

“I don’t know. I can’t…” Seri stammered and turned his head away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarra. Han quickly snatched it away and waved his hand meaningfully at their surroundings.

 

“I’m going to hire Knigail!” Terrenis repeated his previous statement more forcefully.

 

“August.” Seri breathed. His index found his mouth and he bit down on his nail.

“What?” a hysterical laugh nearly broke out of Han. “What are you talking about? Summer is over! This is the Shark City! You can’t keep the beaches open!”

 

“I was acting in the town’s best interest!” Brax snapped.

 

“Than do the right thing and sign that voucher!” Terrenis ordered and held out a paper. Stars! A real paper! Han had completely forgot that those still existed. Although, Luke has a real book with real paper pages. Nevermind. 

 

Brax opened and closed his mouth a few times. Wild eyes flew around, then they settled on Terrenis.

 

“My kids were on that beach too!”

 

“Oh, no you don’t!” Leia suddenly hissed. Her dark eyes were ablaze with fury. Ben raised his head away from her neck and his lower lip started to tremble. Luke moved forward in a second and rescued the child out of the frosty situation. He took a few steps back, but stayed close enough to overlook the argument. Han sent a very grateful look towards him.

 

“You don’t get to do this!” Leia repeated. “Rashiva Haverig is dead! A very good and kind man is dead, because of you!” she hissed. She went up close to the Mayor and glared at the man’s shocked face. “Because of profit. You basically killed a man because of profit!”

 

“I didn’t… I” Seri stammered and backed away from the furious woman.

 

“You will sign that paper and make sure that the shark is killed. No one enters the water! If you don’t, than I’ll make sure you never see daylight again!”

 

Terrenis held out the paper again with a pen. Brax didn’t take his eyes of the petit ball of fury as he scrawled his name onto that paper.

 

***

Mara clenched her fingers around the datapad that contained the contract that stated her ownership of the Daffodil. She glared at the name, but she had no time to change it. It required too much time and datapadwork. She huffed. Who names a ship after a flower?

 

She gave up on that mystery as she stopped in front of her destination. She entered the office of the Coast Guards. She had one more contract to sign. A statement in which she proclaimed that she decided to travel at her own risk and a promise that she wasn’t transporting any tourist or passengers on her vessel. The protocoldroid behind the counter was helpful and in twenty minutes she was leaving the building with her permit.

 

She slowed down her march as she spotted another woman at the harbor. By the look of her she was someone important. She had the logo of the Corellian Navy on her chest. The woman was having heated words with the representative of the Coast Guards. Mara stopped and waited. Something told her this could be important.

 

The argument must have reached its end, because with  elegant, but impatient wave, the woman sent the representative on his way. Mara hesitated for a minute. She considered her options, then decided to go ‘All Skywlaker’ on the woman.

 

“Excuse me. My name is Mara Jade, friend of Luke Sky---”

 

“I know who you are.” The woman said. Her auburn colored hair flew around her as she turned. She offered her hand to Mara. “Tabiras Aliche. Navy.”

 

Mara shifted a little. She could do blunt too. “I have to reach Skywalker. What’s with the lockdown?”

 

“You don’t know?” Aliche asked back, surprise clear on her face.

 

It just irritated Mara even more than the whole situation. “I wouldn’t ask if I knew.”

 

“Shark.” was the Navy woman’s only reply.

 

Mara blinked. “That’s it? All this fuss, because of a fish?”

 

“That _fish._ ” Aliche hissed the word. “Killed four people that we are aware of.”

 

“Kill it than.” Mara shrugged seemingly nonchalantly. She waited for the other shoe to drop. She had found out before that provocation usually landed the information she needed.

 

“We can’t do anything till Tenety’s Mayor doesn’t admit that they can’t handle it by themselves. The island has a special kind of autonomy with which we can’t afford to mess.”

 

“So politics.” Mara drew the conclusion. She barely suppressed the snort that wanted to bubble out, when Aliche’s face twitched visibly.

 

“There is nothing we can do, but wait. Before the communication lines were overloaded, we got a report. According to it a shark specialist had been hired to deal with the situation.”

 

“I’m going there. “ Mara said and started walking again.

 

Aliche turned sharply after her. “How? No one can take you as a passenger and approaching the island by a spaceship is still forbidden.”

 

Mara waved the datapad cheerfully at the older woman. “I have my own boat!”

 

The look on the Navy woman’s face was worth the prolonged conversation.

 

***

 

Luke turned his blue eyes from one man to the other. Holly Hells. He muttered under his nose. The scene in front of him was spectacular. Knigail and Han was standing toe to toe glaring at the other, while the full blown storm of their Corellian temper swarmed around them. Luke had no idea where things went wrong. One moment the conversation though not ideal, but went okay, then suddenly the two corellians jumped at each other’s throat. They were firing colorful insults at each other. Luke had to admit the two of them were really creative. He blinked at Terrenis between the two men. The Sheriff stared back at him with equally confused eyes. So, the pissing match wasn’t just another Corellian tradition?

 

He had to accept the fact that it was probably something more serious, when Knigail outright stated the Han was not setting foot onto his ship. Period. Then the shark-hunter turned speculative eyes towards the Jedi. Luke decided to wait him out. After all, the man was an enigma and he needed to be handled like an enigma.

 

However, Han either didn’t get the memo or he didn’t care, because when he noticed what (or whom) Knigail was looking at, he stepped in front of his friend and growled like a rabid rancor.

 

Luke sighed. Well, he wasn’t getting on that ship either.

 

He was right. After Terrenis with few forceful words managed to settle the argument, the pair was doomed to watch the shark-hunter and Terrenis get ready for the hunt. Luke was almost thankful for Han’s … whatever it was... as he listened to Knigail’s provocations, inappropriate stories and singing.

 

Five hours had passed and after Serena’s and Terrenis’ moving goodbye, the Orcha left the harbor. Knigail’s singing had found its way back to them as they watched the ship getting smaller and smaller.

 

Luke hummed. Han had looked at him sideways and the Jedi felt the glare that was aimed at him.

 

“Don’t you dare! Do not say it!” Han warned.

 

Luke hummed again, but couldn’t help it. Their statement of doom slipped through his lips.

 

“I have a really bad feeling about this.”      

               

 

     

            

  


   

 

      


End file.
